Direct Sales Money Expert, Belinda Fuchs

Success in business and direct sales growth depends on your “money” strategy. Belinda Fuchs will be presenting the next Speakers In The Park workshop on Wednesday, August 4th @ 9:15 PM Eastern time. President of Own Your Money, Belinda provides hope and direction for individuals, couples and families so that they can transform the way they think, feel and act about money.

Belinda’s topic is “The 3 Disastrous Money Mistakes Direct Sellers Make – And What You Can Do To Prevent Them”, including how to begin creating a more powerful relationship to your money, so you experience the feeling of truly owning your money.

Is your “B.S.” in your way from your direct selling success?

• “If I make more money, I’ll have more headaches.”
• “If I try and I don’t succeed at the business, I’ll be a failure.”
• “I don’t have what it takes to get wealthy or be a leader in my organization.”

If any of these sound familiar to the dialogue in your head, then your “B.S.” – your “Belief Systems”—are holding you back. Yes, you are in your own way.

It is essential that you address your underlying fears and attitudes or you will unconsciously sabotage yourself because you actually believe your own B.S.

Success With Money

Most personal finance support is severely lacking because it ignores the elephant in the room that is in your way– YOU. You have access to thousands of tips on-line, yet it is your own beliefs around money and success that are blocking you from taking clear, powerful, and smart actions with your money. Most sales support is the same way. Until you address your attitude and beliefs, your behaviors will be remarkably slow to change.

What is your non-supportive B.S. when it comes to promoting yourself, promoting your business and with accumulating wealth?

It is literally costing you time, energy, and money each day that you ignore these unconscious non-supportive emotions and beliefs that are holding you back. However, once you develop a step-out-of-yourself perspective and new awareness as to what your Belief Systems are, a whole new world will open up for you.

Your non-supportive B.S. fosters a “poor” relationship to money, where you feel poor no matter how much money you are bringing in or even how much money you have in the bank. Even as you make more and more money, your stress increases, you spend more, and your problems just have more zeroes on them.

This is the world of scarcity in which people feel owned by their money instead of feeling powerful as the owner of their money.

You don’t have to live like this anymore. Don’t miss this call!

If you haven’t done so already, join the list so you get the call-in number for the call. The Direct Sales Training tele-seminars are year-round so, get on the list! www.speakersinthepark.com

Direct Sales Consultants, Feng Shui At Your Party

Feng Shui is an Eastern philosophy that has moved West.  Basically, Feng Shui is the art and science of being in harmony with your environment.  Everything is made up of energy, which affects a direct sales consultant’s ability to generate sales at their home party.  You can use some basic Feng Shui skills to create more income in your direct sales business.

Direct Sales Home Party Training

Understanding that the consultant does not always have control of all the factors at her/his home party, your awareness of certain things can be used to create energy more conducive to a successful party. Our Speakers In The Park training call last night focused on presentation techniques.

Tips For Shows

• Always have your back supported
• Never stand in front of a mirror
• Never present in front of a door or window
• Do not stand on a mountain top

The above tips seem simple and yet at a show we often find ourselves jammed in front of the bay window, a mirror over the fireplace or in a doorway.  In every situation of your life: an interview, a restaurant, your direct sales show, a dinner party, when you can choose your spot and one spot is against a solid wall, then always grab it quickly before someone else does.  This gives you more credibility, more authority, just better energy in general.  Always have your back supported for better energy surrounding you.

Mirrors are distracting and also put forth negative energy.  Whenever possible avoid a mirror behind you.

You should always be able to see who is entering, arriving or walking in.  This is true in all cases.  An open door or window does not promote good energy for effective presentations.  Like a mirror, it is distracting to both the audience and the presenter.  Command control of the room by seeing who is arriving.

Would you like to live on the tip-top of a mountain?  In a war that may be a good place for a fort because you can see everywhere and yet it is a very vulnerable position.  Wind or a hurricane or lightning may strike at any time.  When you are presenting your home show, you do not want to feel or project vulnerability.  Try to avoid standing higher than your audience. This may happen in a situation of an outside party with a deck, or a sunken living room.

These are very basic Feng Shui tips and yet they can really impact your show tremendously.  When you walk into the next party, take a look around and evaluate the energy of the room.  If your host has the card table in front of the bay window, ask if you can move it in front of the fireplace.  Or maybe you could close the blinds.  Sometimes there is no choice, but awareness is the first step and then making the best out of every situation comes after that.

Avon, Direct Selling Leader Buys Silpada & Liz Earl

This year Avon bought the fine silver jewelry company Silpada as well as the skin care company Liz Earle. Founded in 1886 as the California Perfume Company. the name change took place in 1939.

Avon, Andrea Jung – Direct Sales Leader

Avon is a long-term success story in direct sales and a trendsetter in the industry. Avon is an internet giant, ranking at number 30 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, and the largest direct selling business in the world. CEO and Chairman of the board for Avon, Andrea Jung, daughter of Chinese immigrants, has been the driving force in Avon since 1999. She has been ranked as #1 in the Direct Selling Power 50 Awards for 2008 and 2009 and is the 25th most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes Magazine, 2009. Under Andrea’s guidance, Avon has become one of the top online retailers with an estimate of $739 million in annual sales online as well as one of the top ten most recognized brands worldwide.

Silpada, Home Party Plan Silver Jewelry

Silpada, on the other hand, is a company that exists primarily offline. With about 32,000 consultants, they operate predominately as a party plan business model. Currently, they are one of the fastest growing direct selling jewelry companies.

From what I have read, Avon expects to keep the two companies separate and operate both as stand alone. Silpada does not sell on the internet now and that will not change in the future. Avon perceives Silpada as a success story of its own and has no plans to change the business strategy. Silpada founders Bonnie Kelly and Teresa Walsh and the Silpada business management team will continue to lead the company from their home office in Kansas.

Avon states that the purchase of the UK based company Liz Earl will strengthen the Avon product line with expertise in botanical ingredients and natural-based products.

“Over the past decade, we have watched Silpada build an enviable reputation as a fast-growing, high-quality jewelry brand and one of the most impressive party plan direct selling organizations in the world,” says Andrea Jung, Avon’s chairman and CEO. “This new partnership is an exciting opportunity to reach new consumers and representatives with a higher-tier brand and direct sales model that complements our existing business.”

It is my understanding that the purchase of Silpada was a “cash” purchase by Avon!!

Congratulations to a company who is here for the long term, always one step ahead of the times and booming in a “bad” economy!

Direct Selling Marketing Opportunity At Parties

Marketing your business opportunity at a direct sales home party is really just creating desire.  When you create desire for your opportunity, people will be asking you if they can have more information.  Isn’t that what we all want?  One approach is to soft sell your business opportunity at your parties is to use the gift bag approach.

Best Way To Sell Business Opportunity You can put together your opportunity gift bag and use it at your home shows to sell your business opportunity. It is one of the best reminder tools for you. It brings value to the guest and it will create a fun way to market your opportunity without being pushy.

Opportunity Gift Bag Recruiting Information

Your gift bag is really just well-packaged opportunity information. Below is a sample list of what you need to create your opportunity bags. Your actual contents will vary based on your company’s product and recruiting materials. You can use any recruiting & marketing tools your company offers in the bag.

• Clear bag
• Tinsel or frilly shredded paper
• Bright-colored card that lists “Tools in your Kit”
• Copy of your commission check
• Opportunity brochure
• Opportunity CD or DVD
• Gift: small under $1.00 item, preferably costing only pennies.
• Decorative sticker or label with a message to hold it shut
• Payday candy bar

Now that you have your opportunity gift bags prepared, use them at your home party to market your direct sales opportunity.  Think big! Bring at least 3 to each show.  Position one in a prominent location to develop curiosity.  This will also be a reminder to you to sprinkle recruiting words throughout your show.

Market Your Sales Opportunity

Marketing is the art, science and skill of creating more and more desire in the marketplace for your products, opportunity and services. The short definition of marketing is: creating desire!

You will create desire for your opportunity by sprinkling the benefits of your direct sales business throughout your show in a conversational manner.

Direct Sales Recruiting Tips

• Use your opportunity bag as your prize drawing and at that time you can be more direct in your marketing approach.
• Watch for opportunity red flags and be proactive!!
• Plan when you are sprinkling which recruiting message.
• Learn more recruiting – marketing strategies.

Good Telephone Messages Return Calls

Technology may be making life easier and yet it is also making life more difficult.  It is certainly has become the norm for most home owners to screen their calls.  This relatively new practice makes it more difficult for home-based business consultants to do their job effectively and provide good customer service.

The key to leaving a good voicemail message is to start with a script. Take the time to script out your message prior to starting your calls. In all home-based businesses, success is all about connecting with your customers and hosts, so the goal of your messages needs to be connection. When writing your scripts take the following points into consideration.

How To Get A Return Call From Voice Mail Messages

There are a few specific steps that you must put into your script to ensure that you get a call back from your messages.

1. You must have a legitimate business reason to be placing the telephone call in the first place.  Cold calling to book shows is not a legitimate business reason.  Did she mention a product that is on sale now? Did he express an interest in having a show?  Did she tell you to call?  What exactly is your legitimate reason for calling your customer in the first place?
2. You must establish some connection.  Don’t use your last name, as friends do not have to tell friends their last name.  Connect by the host, the product or your purpose. Connect with a recollection of them from your last encounter.  “This is Deb with MyFavoriteCompany; when we chatted at Mary’s show you said….”
3. Create curiosity.  “I have a quick question,”  I want to share something with you that I think you would be interested in…”
4. Create urgency.  “You mentioned you were upset that MyFavoriteCompany discontinued the XYZ product. I wanted to let you know that for August ONLY, we have a special item that is similar….”
5. Speak clearly and say your name and telephone number twice.  I mean say your telephone number clearly, slowly and twice. Once at the beginning of the call and once at the end of the call.
6. Be excited. Smile and stand up.  It is really difficult to transfer enthusiasm over the phone.  You are the only one who is as enthusiastic as you are about your company.  Smile, stand up and walk around while you talk.

Home Business Owners Script  Your Voice Mail Message

It is essential that you script out your message.  The script is your starting point.  Write out your voice message script prior to each series of calls you make.  Each call may be different and the script will give you a point of reference.  With a script you will get better at it.  Using your voice mail script will improve your message skills.  A couple of years ago we had Jeff Zaleweski on our home base business training call.  He talked about how to write a powerful voice mail script.  Jeff shared about his voicemail message-creating software.  So, check it out.  It is kind of fun.  When you use his message scripting software a few times to create your answering machine message, you will become  an expert at writing a good script. It is FREE!

The Direct Selling Power Grand Prize Winner Is….

Direct Sales Leaders

The grand prize for this sweepstakes is the collaborative educational book Direct Selling Power. This book has the autograph of every direct sales leader and educator who contributed a to this book. These 16 direct sales educators have a focus on the success  and commitment to the direct selling consultants that they coach and train. The book contains topics that all direct sales professionals seek solutions to such as direct sales recruiting, direct selling leadership development and more.

The grand prize winner of the “Direct Selling Power” fully autographed book goes to:

scbv611

One in 10 leads that a direct sales professional contacts will say yes, so when we have sweepstakes we always draw 1 winner for every 10 entries.  There were 112 entries in this sweepstakes so there are 12 successful prize winners.  The runner-up award of the MP3 download program called “Stop Recruiting… Start Sharing!” goes to the following lucky direct sales consultants.

heatheramyprice
swomble1
TTbyLori
glyndalomax
sheric529
swomble1
ozymandias6
CarlTodasco
mk_jewels
rmushet
maureenmcgrail

Claim Your Direct Sales Recruiting Training

We have sent an email to all of the winners. If your partial identification is in this list, and you did not get an email from us, then you had better send us an email to claim your direct sales training and recruiting educational program. Entries were drawn at random using the services of Random.org.  You can verify the authenticity of the event if you choose to by visiting Random.org.

Home Business Marketing, Online

Karen Clark presented an excellent workshop last night on how to market your home business online. Her focus was on how to generate leads from local customers or businesses as a result of your online marketing efforts. She gave us many online resources to use to bring customers to us who live in our town, and even our neighborhood. Karen has an online marketing presence that proves that she knows her stuff.  Enjoy the excerpt of the call below!

Online Lead Generation For Home Businesses

Finding business online and generating leads in your own neighborhood is definitely possible.  Home businesses who reach out to local consumers will generate new customers in their own town or neighborhood.

What can you do to reach out online to local people in your own backyard?

It used to be that a large printed book of yellow pages was what consumers consulted when they needed to find a photographer, bookkeeper or realtor. If they weren’t sure where to go for art supplies, books or pizza, they let their fingers do the walking. The majority of today’s consumers locally and globally, however, turn to online searches and internet directories to find what they are looking for. Within a few seconds they are given information about the closest service provider, restaurant or shop, along with real time customer reviews, ratings and “buzz” that influences their decision on which business to patronize.

Making sure that your business shows up in the search results is determined by whether or not you have your town, county or region listed on your website, blog, or social media profiles, as well as if you have a presence on several of the social networks online that are geared toward serving a local clientele.

Click the green button to listen to Karen.

Speakers In The Park, Direct sales training, continues on July 28th with presentation skills for direct sellers. Join the newsletter to get the dial-in. The training calls are free and the MP3 downloads are affordable. Get all the calls via MP3 within 24 hours! Join the Elite Club!

List Your Business Online

Some of the most popular and higher ranking sites to list your business online are:

• Yelp: http://biz.yelp.com

Yelp is the most popular business rating, feedback and referral social network and because of its popularity, when your business is listed, your listing will have a powerful presence on the web. Past customers and clients can write reviews and testimonials on your business profile, and potential new customers can find you, learn more about your business, and contact you. The community of Yelp users is expansive and social, and connections are readily exposed to their friends’ favorite businesses. Since Yelp users are directed to businesses closest to their chosen metropolitan area, local people are drawn to you and share your information with other local people. When filling out a business owner profile on Yelp, be sure to thoroughly describe yourself, your business and your company mission, and include all of the extras such as photos of your product or service in action, and any special offers or announcements.

• Merchant Circle: http://www.merchantcircle.com

This network is truly a stand-alone community geared toward connecting local independent businesses with their neighbors. Their platform allows businesses to create mini-websites, blogs, coupons and newsletters – free. Consumers for whom it is important to use local business instead of chain stores or franchises appreciate being able to depend on Merchant Circle to steer them toward truly local, responsive companies, who offer them incentives to do business with them. Emails to your local neighborhood go out on a regular basis, and your business information or coupon is included. Whether you have a website or blog already, creating a presence on Merchant Circle is another powerful way to engage with your local community.

Google, Local Business Listing

Each of the three major search engines have local business listings where you can create a complete profile that outlines your business description, location, web addresses, categories and photos. Take the time to submit your home business listing to Yahoo, Google and Bing LOCAL.

http://local.yahoo.com
http://local.google.com
http://local.bing.com

Customers can rate your service, leave a review or testimonial, and share your profile with their contacts. Creating a local account on the search engines requires verification by phone or mail and that adds credibility to each of the listings, since people know that the businesses listed are verified to be who they say they are. Since these directories are associated with each search engine, having a presence there means that your listing is bumped to the top of search results when someone in your area uses the search engine to find someone who does what you do.